Alex left Percy's office with a sigh. Since her mission with Jaden, all had been quiet in Division. It had been a week of nothing- just planning, organizing and waiting. So when Percy had pulled her into his office, Alex had gotten excited. She thought something had developed regarding Semak, and that she had a chance to start her campaign against him. Instead, he assigned her to assure the safety of one of his precious black boxes. The mission was nothing important or life saving. It just furthered his own self interest. Alex sighed heavily.
Before she ran off to update the rogues, Alex paced Division. She needed to curb her frustrations first so her thoughts and information could be clear. And she couldn't suspiciously run out of Division after receiving major news. Though, she was so ready to leave that damn basement. She wanted to stop evil in its every form, not play double. She also didn't want to be constantly frustrated anymore. At least she wasn't alone in that feeling. As she walked past the server room, she saw one of the techs, Sonya, close to punching a panel of blinking lights. Alex was able to stop her by scoffing, "Percy's giving you trouble too, huh?"
"I've been on twenty-four/seven black box duty all month," Sonya groaned, slamming her head against one of the servers. Since she had discovered Nikita's shell program, the hacker had risen through the ranks and was soon considered Division's foremost hacker. Although she had to admit that Birkhoff still had her outmaneuvered at times in the field, she had proved herself in other areas. One of which was the black box encryption. After Percy had killed the engineer of the boxes for the leak in security that had allowed Owen to release a secret, he had Sonya take over. And she had been stuck with the black boxes ever since.
"I guess Birkhoff, Michael, and Nikita have him pretty rattled," Alex tried to hide her proud smirk. The rogues had been amazing lately. They had destroyed two black boxes, and she was about to give them a lead on another one. After that, there'd be only three more Guardians to kill (or turn, like Owen) and three more black boxes to destroy. Then Percy could die, Division could burn, and the world could be made better. Along the way, Alex could also kill Semak (that'd obsoletely make her world better). With Percy so preoccupied with the rogues' numerous victories, she could finally do the missions she wanted, not the ones she was forced to do.
"Yeah. Right. Whatever," Hearing the young agents remark as she passed in the hallway, Kelly scoffed. When both Sonya and Alex cast her confused glances, she rolled her eyes. She redirected from wherever she was going to enter the server room. Apparently, she deemed expressing her annoyance far more important. Alex would've rolled her eyes too if she wasn't so confused, especially after what Kelly said next, "Just try and pretend I'm not an idiot, okay? Just give me that much, rising star."
"What are you talking about?" Alex stared at Kelly in bewilderment. She glanced at Sonya for any help in deciphering her words, yet the hacker was just as clueless. After a beat, Alex fought a frustrated groan. She was beginning to suspect that Kelly was just trying to rile her up. She hated her because of the attention she received from Percy and Amanda- especially Amanda. Kelly had fought for her position (really, it had been given to her when Nikita had gone rogue); Alex shouldn't be special just because. But that wasn't her fault. She couldn't be blamed for being a part of other people's schemes. Kelly just had to get over herself and move on.
"What am I… this isn't about the rogues, and you know it. It's about Operation Sparrow," Kelly snapped. It took a moment for Alex to fully process what she was saying. The agent hadn't just heard her quip about the rogues; she had also heard Sonya's complaint about the black boxes. Percy's paranoia concerning them wasn't because of the rogues- at least, according to Kelly. In actuality, he was worried about an op. Operation Sparrow- whatever the hell that was (seriously, Alex had to find out who named the missions). Yet what did that have to do with black boxes. What did it even have to do with Alex.
When she glanced at Sonya again, the hacker seemed to know what was going on. She had at least heard of Operation Sparrow and how it tied to the black boxes. So was it an old mission, then. Was something from the past rearing its ugly head and making Percy panic. Was the information on the black box not secure enough. Maybe Alex could ask the rogues about it. They could've heard something, or had even been involved on the past mission. Also, if information was leaking, then they could expose it. It all hinged on just what exactly Operation Sparrow was. Judging by the name, it was probably pretentious, "What's Operation Sparrow?"
"Didn't I just ask you not to do that? I'm gonna find out what it is in a couple weeks when the operation goes active anyway, so you may as well tell me now. Since you do get all the special attention," Kelly sneered at Alex, her taunt for her dripping off her tongue. Not only did she hate that she was the golden child, she also hated that Alex received news before she did. That was a valid thing for Kelly to be pissed about. However, that wasn't the case that time. Alex hadn't been told anything about a new operation. Hell, she had thought Sparrow was old. She had no idea what was going on. Kelly was wrong.
"Couple of weeks?" That piece of information stuck out in Alex's mind. If the op went active soon, shouldn't more people know about it. And if a major op was about to take place, then Alex had to gather as much intel as she could so she could warn the rogues. Unfortunately, Alex continued to know nothing. She couldn't understand a word Kelly was saying, and she was fairly certain that she wouldn't explain anything. If it was up to her, she'd keep the young agent in the dark forever. She'd never know what was occurring, or how to stop it.
"Oh, shit. You really don't know. Guess the golden child isn't told everything," Snickering, Kelly didn't elaborate further. She just proudly held the information over Alex's head and refused to give it up. Alex didn't even try to pry it out of her hands. She couldn't force Kelly to tell her anything. She had more experience in Division and as an agent, and she was her superior. Kelly was the one to issue orders, and Alex just had to shut up and take it. If she wanted information, she had to go somewhere else. But she had no idea where.
After a moment, Sonya surprisingly answered that question. She must've taken pity on the young agent's utter confusion because she was the one to tell her what she knew about the operation. It wasn't much; it was less information than what Kelly had. However, it should've been enough to help Alex out. Keeping information from one another in Division was more dangerous than helpful. Although that was what their bosses wanted, Sonya couldn't abide by that. Besides, what harm could come from that intel, "Percy's been hiding all the prep work on the black boxes. I've been encrypting them while he watches me."
"It's going down soon, and it's big," Smirking, Kelly somewhat singsonged. She left the server room, laughing to herself and leaving Alex and Sonya confused once more. The hacker and young agent glanced at each other one last time and exhaled huge sighs. They would just have to blindly follow their orders until they were lucky enough to know the truth. Whereas Sonya was able to convince herself that she was okay with that, Alex remained frustrated and pissed off. She was going to figure out just what the hell Operation Sparrow was, and she was going to tell the rogues all about it.
She still had to tell them about her black box mission. So once she escaped from the bunker, she called a meeting. Alex knew that the loft was just their staging ground and not their safehouse; they hadn't let her know where their safehouse was, which made sense. However, sometimes she believed they lived at the loft. The rogues were always there before she was, and they were usually up to some sort of antics. Alex liked that dependability in them. She didn't have to second guess herself, just get straight to the point, "I wanna offer my congratulations to the scariest rogues I know. Because Percy just ordered me to secure one of the black boxes."
"We really have him on the ropes," Michael echoed Alex's pride, dropping whatever it was that he was doing. The rogues had assumed that they had gotten under Percy's skin by constantly ruining his missions and by destroying two of his black boxes. However, they hadn't known that they had had him that rattled. He was pulling his resources, trying to sure up his defenses for the rogues' next attack. They had actually made him vulnerable, and he was scared. The rogues should celebrate that. Once they destroyed the next black box, wherever it might've been, "Where are you going?"
"Some small town in Pennsylvania. I'm supposed to check on the Guardian, Winters, make sure she's not another Owen," Alex shrugged. She hadn't recognized the name of the town Percy had told her. She had planned to mostly rely on the Guardian's tracker location than any map. That had sort of been Percy's idea when he had sent a black box in that town; he wanted a Guardian placed in such an obscure place, no one would think to look for them there. His idea had almost worked. The rogues never would've gone to Pennsylvania. Until Alex told them.
"I remember Winters. It's best if she doesn't see you spying on her," Nikita advised Alex. She had never worked with Winters in Division, yet she had heard about the things she had done on missions- no wonder Percy had made her a Guardian. Alex should keep her distance from her as she followed her. Even if they were both Division, Winters wouldn't appreciate the tail. The regimen that she was forced to take would probably also make her ill-temperament even worse. There was no point in Alex testing her- the rogues on the other hand.
"That's what Percy said. I'm to strictly observe for twenty-four hours, and report if she breaks protocol. He's checking on all four remaining Guardian's simultaneously. He's starting to get really paranoid," Alex wanted to remain proud as she shared that fact. But she couldn't stop thinking about Operation Sparrow. Maybe Percy being paranoid wasn't a good thing for the rogues. He could be even more dangerous as he became frantic. With the lack of information the rogues constantly had, that could be a very real possibility.
However, the rogues were going to hold tight to any positivity that they could. Few good things actually came their way in that fucking war. Their resources were severely lacking in every possible way, especially compared to Division. So when they had a lead- any kind of lead- that'd help them take down their enemies, they'd take it without hesitation. Maybe they should be more cautious and think a little bit more. But, honestly, there wasn't much time to contemplate everything. They just had to act. It was a good thing that Nikita was great at that, "Good. He's starting to crack up. We can slip through those cracks."
"Give me the tracker ID, and let's get started," Pulling his chair up to the computer station- that he had severely updated since Nikita's first attempt- Birkhoff demanded from Alex. He could work wonders with just that information. Not only could he locate the Guardian to where she was at the very moment, he could also track where she had been. Michael and Nikita would be able to take her out and destroy the black box with no trouble at all. After what had happened in London, that was a huge blessing.
"About that. You only have a six hour window," Alex warned the team as she gave Birkhoff the information he wanted. The rogues were instantly confused, arguing that she had said that she was to spy on Winters for twenty-four hours; they should've had a day to track her down and destroy the box. But just because Alex had twenty-four hours, didn't mean they did. She couldn't be with the rogues on that mission. Their time together in London had been enough of a risk. They had to play things safer, "If I report back that you guys showed up, kicked the Guardian's ass, took the box, and I failed to stop you…"
"It'd be pretty suspicious," Finishing Alex's thought, Michael sighed. The six hours that Alex had to rest and prepare for her mission was the only time the rogues could actively go after the Guardian. Otherwise, she'd have to report them to Division. There was only so much she could do as their rogue. It was difficult to remember that when she had been so exceptional. However, she still had limits. She couldn't be aware of their actions that time, or else she'd be endangering herself. And that was the last thing the rogues wanted.
"Which is why you need to steal the box before I show up," Alex advised the rogues. On her way to the loft, she had been thinking about how they could get ahead of Operation Sparrow. If she waited until Percy or Amanda told her about it, then it could be too late. Whatever big, evil thing Division was planning couldn't be stopped by the rogues if they didn't have enough time to prepare. Peeking into the black box could give them an edge. It could also give Alex information on Operation Pale Fire. She hadn't thought of it before, but peeking into the box could give her information she could use against Semak. She could finally attack him.
Whereas Michael and Birkhoff began to form a new plan off of Alex's revised time frame, Nikita stared at her in confusion. Something about her word choice bewildered her. They didn't steal black boxes. The only reason information had leaked from one of them was because Owen hadn't yet destroyed his box or the less secure flashdrive he was supposed to have uploaded into it. But that had been remedied. All the black boxes had to be destroyed. It was the only way to strip Percy of his power so they could kill him. Stealing didn't benefit them. What would they want with those secrets anyway, "Steal the box? No, we're destroying it."
"About that too… Kelly and the tech that's been helping with the black boxes, Sonya, were talking about a big op that's happening in a few weeks. Operation Sparrow. I don't know what it's about, but I do know that it'll be dangerous. Percy's keeping all the intel in the black boxes. If we crack one open, we can get ahead of him," Finally, Alex told them about what she had learned from Kelly and Sonya. Whatever Operation Sparrow was, the team had to start stopping it then. Something that big and paranoid by Percy was going to be detrimental. The more information they had, and the sooner they got it, the better.
"I thought those things were supposed to be uncrackable," Although Michael agreed with Alex, peeking into the black box wasn't going to be easy. After all, it had been a miracle that he had found the files on him and Kasim that had led him to the truth. Decrypting one of the most secure hard drives ever was going to require a lot more luck and a whole nother miracle. It was why the rogues had never considered trying to crack into a black box before; it was far easier to just shoot the damn thing. But if there was a chance they could stop the operation and save the world by taking a look, then it was worth a try.
"Please. If a Division goon has been working on that thing, I can totally crack it," Birkhoff replied, self-assured. He had believed that he couldn't hack a black box when the Engineer had been encrypting them. But since a lowly Division tech had taken up the assignment, Birkhoff was certain he could easily peek inside a box. He had yet to run into a Division hacker that could best him. A few had come close. Yet there was no way they could beat Shadowwalker. He was the best all around.
Regardless of the other's confidence, Nikita still wasn't sure about stealing a black box. She had been in Chile after just one secret had been released. What if they accidently let more slip. It was like Pandora's box; nothing good came from a black box. Destroying it was the only way to ensure people stayed safe. More innocents couldn't be blamed for dangerous secrets, like Ryan. And more riots and decent and chaos could occur. The black box and all its secrets had to be obliterated. That shouldn't have been a debate, "I still think we should destroy it."
"This could be our chance to stop Percy once and for all," Michael, however, argued with Nikita. The rogues were smart enough not to release secrets to the public. And they'd destroy the box once they learned what they needed to about Operation Sparrow. There was nothing to worry about, as long as they looked at the positives- like they were doing with Alex's current mission. The rogues always complained about their lack of intel. Well, that was their chance to fix that. They could be well-informed and a step ahead for once. That was undoubtedly a good thing.
"Alright. Then let's get going," Sighing, Nikita relented. She continued to not like the idea. Yet she couldn't argue when she knew that the others were right. Peeking into the box was the best play that they had. Besides, there was a chance they could learn other damning things about Division through the box- like where the other Guardians were, or which government officials were corrupted by Division. It was dangerous, but black box intel would give the rogues a much needed leg up in their war. What could go wrong from that.